Web logs, also known as “blogs”, are provided by many Web sites. To view the various entries on different Web logs is a cumbersome activity because the user must move from Web log to Web log, and much of the information on each Web log is not new, requiring the user to reread some or all of the information before learning that he or she has already, read it.
To allow users to view related Web log entries from a single location, some Web site operators consolidate certain information such as summary information from Web log entries from multiple sites onto a single site. The user can use the single site to browse summary information such as a title and a brief description or first few dozen words, and then, if the user is interested in reading the complete, actual Web log entry, the user can click a link on the consolidated site to the Web log containing the entry so that the user can read the entire actual entry from which the summary information was generated.
Some Web logs are “syndicated” to allow the information from the Web log to be more easily retrieved by consolidators and other. A syndicated Web log is a Web log that is provided in a certain format, such as an XML or XML-like format, like RSS. Other information on the Internet can also be syndicated. The present invention applies to information on the Internet, which may or may not be syndicated, such as Web log information.
However, there can be a large number of entries on a site that consolidates entries. Some entries may have wide appeal to those interested in the topic of the entry, while others can have far more limited appeal. Many users would like to be able to determine those entries that are clicked through to the actual entry most often so that they can more carefully review the summary information of such entries to determine if they too would like to click through to read the actual entry.
If all of the entries on the consolidated site are displayed in the same manner, it makes it difficult for the user to determine which entries are the most popular. Some Web sites that consolidate Web log entries list the number of times that users have clicked through to view the entire Web log entry, but because the number is not displayed relative to other entries, it makes it difficult to determine whether an entry with a certain number of click throughs is popular or not. The user can compare the number of click throughs for one entry with the number of click throughs for other entries displayed nearby, but this technique is not a good way to identify the popularity of the entry relative to other entries in the category. For example, if the other entries nearby have a very low number of clickthroughs, an entry with a low number of clickthoughs can look popular by comparison with its neighbors, when in fact it is not.
In some applications, entries that have been more recently added can be more pertinent than older entries. For example, Web log entries dealing with a news event that deal with a recent development in that event may be far more pertinent than entries that were supplied before the recent development occurred. Thus, when attempting to determine the entries most clicked through as described above, a user may only wish to compare each the number of times users clicked through to an entry that was received within a certain timeframe with the number of times users clicked through to other entries received within that same timeframe. If for example, a hot development that generated a huge number of clickthroughs occurred three days ago, and a more mild development that generated a more moderate number of clickthroughs occurred more recently, a user who frequently visits the consolidate site may wish to see the popularity of each entry received in the last twenty four hours relative to other entries that were received in that period. Comparing the popularity of the more recent entries to those received several days ago would distort the popularity of the more recent entries, making them appear less popular than they really are, relative to the other entries received in the last twenty four hours. Furthermore, older entries can appear more popular than newer ones simply due to the fact that they have been around longer.
What is needed is a system and method that can allow a user to see information, such syndicated information, such as portions of Web log entries, from various Web sites, that users can click through to see more complete information, such as the entire Web log entry, that displays to the user the popularity of the information relative to other related information, such as other Web log entries in the same category or topic, and can display such popularity for entries received in a time or other window relative to other entries received in that same window.